If I'm Wrong -- I'm Toast!

After decades of exploring the human potential movement and studying many methods of its gurus, I now believe that I have garnered enough information, instruction and experience to edit it all down to some simple guidelines that have proven invaluable to me.

I shall live by those principles for the rest of my life. If these ideas are wrong, I probably will not have time -- or the inclination -- to correct them. So I shall put all my eggs (or ego) in one basket and hope for the best.

These thoughts may serve as a model for like-minded seekers who are, in spite of appearances that promise gloom and doom, optimistic that, individual by individual, a critical mass may be created that will avert disaster and grant us a do-over.

The observations presented are far from original and derive from sources too numerous to credit. My acknowledgement and apologies to all belief systems and individuals -- religious, philosophical or otherwise.

If I'm Wrong -- I'm Toast!

First and foremost, I accept ownership of and responsibility for every thought/experience that has entered my consciousness from the moment my soul was born. Since I can perceive reality only through my personal mechanism, all of my conclusions belong solely to me. Yours belong to you, though since we are all connected, this is a pointless point.

This requisite is similar to the conditions for a happy marriage. (On this point my track record would certainly disqualify me as an authority.) Nonetheless, in any successful relationship between two or more people there is an additional partner -- besides those that are directly involved there is an overall unifying Entity -- The Marriage. The Partnership. The Organization.

I am suggesting that, for survival, individuals and institutions place consideration of the welfare of the whole above their personal and group agendas.

Because my memory is flawed, I usually choose to tell the truth as I see it. This is the simplest and most effective way to keep my stories straight.

So here are 12 tips worth testing (in no particular sequence of importance except for the last).

1 - Every unkind act is a cry for love.

2 - No one repeats any action unless there is a payoff -- positive or negative -- conscious or not.

3 - We have precious little control, if any, over our lives. Instead we have choice and discernment.

4 - Life would be meaningless were it not for faith in an intelligent power which knows all and adores us anyway. Sort of like a tough-love parent who says punishment hurts him/her more than it hurts us. REALLY?

5 - No one ever does anything for anyone unless there is benefit to the benefactor, even if it is only the feeling of self approval.

6 - Mankind's misguided actions spring from fear for safety/survival, desire for approval/acceptance, absence of control and an underlying terror of being abandoned by God.

7 - Mankind can do no more than cope with circumstances, usually ineptly, without the intervention of a higher, wiser and merciful power who alone can transmute our mistakes and their memories from endless replaying.

8 - Every obstacle is an opportunity for learning. Rock bottom is a firm foundation on which to build.

9 - Our greatest challenges/challengers are our greatest teachers.

10 - It would be impossible for a human being to fault another if that very trait were absent in their own perception. When judgment is present, it is a reflection of and/or remembrance of guilt.

11 - Wherever attention goes, manifestation tends to follow. Be very careful what you want.

12 - To obtain a reprieve from an endless sentence of imbedded patterns, it is imperative that we assume total responsibility for our errors, have real regret, ask for forgiveness from others, forgive ourselves, give thanks nonstop for our many blessings and place our lives in alignment with Love.

This is the elegant solution that heals from the heart -- in preparation for a revitalized, more peaceful happy life.

I think newly, clearly, truly! And so it is!

I wish to thank all my sources of inspiration, the most influential of which have been "A Course in Miracles," Ihaleakala Hew Len, Ph.D., teacher of Ho'oponopono and Lester Levenson, founder of The Sedona Method.

Above all, I am most grateful for direct communication from headquarters.